Dance, Music, & Song Camps“We started by bringing our children; now, our teens bring us.”
–Tom Cole
August 15-21, 2022 // Cascade, MD
For Adults & Families
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Program Description
Bring your whole family to Cascade of Music & Dance at Camp Louise, located in the state of euphoria, for a week of audacious joymongering. Get into a state of flow, making connections with family and friends old and new for dancing, music, and antics of all sorts.
At Cascade, you’ll find activities for people of all ages led by talented, caring instructors. In addition to contras, squares, ritual dance, and English country dance, you will have the opportunity to experience the traditional dances and music of Ireland and Scotland as well as singing and playing old-time American music. Swimming, nature walks, and art fill out the schedule.
Twice a day campers get the opportunity to come together in a camp gathering to sing, dance, and enjoy entertainment by our talented staff and campers. And as always, our days end with a dance party and late night activities as roving monitors check on little ones asleep in their cabins.
Come and join in the fun at camp and bring traditions home to share!
~Eric Schedler, Program Director
Class Descriptions
Period 1
Smalls: Sunshine Music Time with Mr. M with Eric Maring and Juliana McCarthy
Description coming soon!
Middles: Music with Emily Aubrey Brian Lindsay
Description coming soon!
Talls: Social Dance with Rick Mohr, Chloe Mohr and Paul Oorts
Focus on fun as we learn grown-up social dance skills in the safety of our same-age cohort.
Ages 13 & up: Border Crossings: Scottish and English Country Dances – Dan Blim with Dave Wiesler and Jonathan Whitall
Discover the energy and beauty of Scottish country dancing and its connections with English country dancing. The class will start with some basic Scottish technique and the aspects of the music and dancing that make it distinct. We’ll also look at how Scottish and English dances share figures between them. No prior SCD knowledge is necessary, but the class will build on some of the technique taught toward the beginning of the week.
Ages 13 & up: Pajama Party Squares and Contras – Janine Smith with Val Mindel, Mike Miller, and Eric Schedler
Wake up, it’s time to dance! Roll outta bed and come as you are, you don’t want to miss a minute of this FUN “dance vocabulary-building” session. The 5 Secrets to Achieving Dancing Joy will be revealed during the course of the week!
Period 2
Smalls: Outdoor Craft Time
Description coming soon!
Middles: Morris Dancing with Meg Dedolph
Not the Middle Ages, not the middle-aged, but the 6-9 year-olds! We’ll learn some footwork, clash sticks, jump high and have fun with ritual dance.
Talls: Survey of Ritual Dance with Kappy Laning and Jonathan Whitall
We will explore similarities and differences of several kinds of English ritual dance traditions (such as border morris, garland, rapper, longsword and ribbon dances) and create a performance out of what is inspiring to the students.
Teens: Teenz at 10:15 with Janine Smith and Eric Maring
Bring your mad skillz, your knowledge, your passion, and your thirst for knowledge on practically any subject. What can you teach us? What can we all learn together? Make a song, write a dance, play some games, tell a joke, the sky’s the limit, though theoretical physics may be a bit of a stretch. Prerequisites: Willingness to goof around and have FUN.
18 & up: Contra Joy – Rick Mohr with Eric Schedler, Brian Lindsay, and Owen Morrison
Soaring, driving, music, plus friends new and old, plus top-notch choreography, equals contra joy! We’ll come together to enjoy a mix of groove and challenge, as we shake off two years of isolation with some fine community connection.
18 & up: English Country Dances with Distinction – Dan Blim with Dave Wiesler, Ben Schreiber, and Paul Oorts
A mix of new and familiar English country dances from across the centuries. For each dance, we’ll consider what makes it special. Choreographic innovations, interactions with other dancers, flow, and the marriage of music and motion all play a part in making ECD worth exploring.
18 & up: Sing and Play the Old Time Way with Val Mindel and Mike Miller
This is an American old time/early country string band class with an emphasis on singing. Think tunes with a strong song element and songs with a strong fiddle/guitar/mandolin/banjo element. We’ll learn new songs every day and also continue to work on ones we’ve started on previous days. We can accommodate any stringed instrument. Melody players should be able to learn a simple melody pretty quickly by ear. Rhythm players should know basic chords and be comfortable changing chords and playing at a medium dance speed. We’ll work mostly in the keys of A, G, D and C. Guitar players will want to bring a capo to class.
Period 3
Camper-led activities
Period 4
Ages 9 & up (under-9s with an adult helper): Art
Description coming soon!
Ages 9 & up: Ukelele for the Absolute Beginner with Meg Dedolph
Come meet your new best friend, the ukulele. It’s portable, it’s fun and it fits in anywhere from beach days to black tie events. (Well, okay, we haven’t tried the black-tie thing yet). We’ll talk about how to tune it, learn some easy chords and simple singalong favorites, and look at the resources available for you to take your next steps in your ukulele journey.
Ages 10 & up: Lift your Voices in (Country) Harmony with Val Mindel
In this class, we’ll work on a variety of songs from various American (mostly southern) traditions – think Appalachian, early country, bluegrass, gospel. We’ll get into the hows of creating harmonies and touch on issues such as blend and phrasing and creating that buzzy sound that is so characteristic of Americana music. But mostly, we’ll sing a lot, learning new songs every day and fine-tuning the songs we learned on previous days. Everything will be taught by ear (with word sheets), so bring along your phones for recording essential bits. The class is mostly geared toward adults, but teens and older kids with some singing under their belts are welcome.
Ages 13 & up: Couple Dancing with Chloe Mohr, Ben Schreiber, and Dave Wiesler
Join us for accessible, playful dances for two. We’ll focus on a different dance form each day, prioritizing fun and keeping everyone moving.
Ages 13 & up: Irish Sets – Owen Morrison with Jonathan Whitall, Eric Schedler, and Brian Lindsay
Description coming soon!
Period 5
Ages 10 & up (under-10s with an adult singing buddy): Holy Guacamole! Sing-a-long, Move-a-long, Explore-a-long with Eric Maring and Julian Maring
Description coming soon!
Ages 13 & up: Camper Band Class with Ben Schreiber and Paul Oorts
Description coming soon!
Ages 13 & up: Rapper with Rick Mohr
Fly through exciting figures while connected to four other dancers by flexible two-handled “swords”! No experience necessary; wear hard-soled shoes.
Ages 13 & up: Putting the “Play” in Playford – Dan Blim with Owen Morrison
Dancing comes with instructions, but it can also come with opportunities to improvise and invent. In this class we’ll think about how to adapt and play with our movements on the floor. What makes a dance work? What are our responsibilities as dancers? What do we enjoy about dances and how can we add to that enjoyment?
